Fall Arts Celebration 2011 is set to go at venues in three locations, including downtown Grand Rapids. Grand Valley’s gift to the community includes six enriching events, all free and open to the public, and planned with a focus on the future.
• The Music Department presents the opening night event - a rare opportunity to hear opera compositions of Mozart, Beethoven and Rossini as they were originally heard in the many great noble houses of 18th-century Vienna - in woodwind arrangements. “A Night in Hapsburg Vienna: From the Marriage of Figaro to Fidelio as arranged for Wind Harmonie,” will be presented Monday, September 12, at 8 p.m. in the Louis Armstrong Theatre, Performing Arts Center.
• Distinguished Academic Lecturer Michael Sandel will present “Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?” Thursday, September 22, at 7 p.m., Eberhard Center, Pew Grand Rapids Campus. A professor of political philosophy at Harvard since 1980, Sandel’s wildly popular course, “Justice,” has engaged students through active discussion, based on the great philosophers of the past and their relevance to contemporary issues ranging from affirmative action and bioethics, to government bailouts and immigration reform.
• The rich and diverse trends in contemporary South American art will be featured in the GVSU Art Gallery exhibition “Arte Argentino Actual,” with an opening reception Thursday, October 6, from 5-7 p.m. The exhibition continues through November 4. It will feature eclectic paintings, prints, photographs and sculptures by Argentine artists Juan Batalla, Daniel Barreto, Pedro Cugnasco, Gretchen Minnhaar and others. The exhibition will also include a wall of 57 photographs, “Imagine Buenos Aires,” curated by Zulema Moret, Grand Valley’s director of Latin American Studies.
• One of the pillars of contemporary American poetry will be paired with a younger writer who has quickly become one of poetry’s most compelling voices in America during “Poetry Night: An Evening of Poetry and Conversation with Ted Kooser and Terrance Hayes,” Friday, October 21, at 7 p.m., Eberhard Center, Pew Grand Rapids Campus. Kooser was U.S. Poet Laureate for two terms (2004-2006). He is the author of 11 collections of poetry. Hayes is the accomplished author of four award-winning books of poetry.
• Music and Dance faculty and students present “The Spanish Tradition: Manuel de Falla, El corregidor y la molinera” Monday, October 24 at 8 p.m., Louis Armstrong Theatre, Performing Arts Center. Manuel de Falla captured the many influences of the Spanish cultural identity, as found in the folk music and dance of his native Andalusia, and incorporated them into his ballets.
• A holiday gift to the community closes Fall Arts Celebration 2011 with “Gloria: Music of the Holiday Season from Grand Valley,” Monday December 5, at 8 p.m., Fountain Street Church, Grand Rapids. The University Arts Chorale and soloists will join Music Department faculty and students for a performance of two Baroque holiday music masterpieces: Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria and Arcangelo Corelli’s Christmas Concerto. Fountain Street Church was selected for its superb acoustics and central location for Grand Valley’s holiday gift to the West Michigan community.
Fall Arts Celebration is made possible, in part, through the generosity of sponsors including, Ginny Gearhart and the Gearhart Family, Liesel and Hank Meijer, Elaine and Larry Shay, Judy and Peter Theune, and WOOD Radio.
For more Fall Arts Celebration information, visit www.gvsu.edu/fallarts or call
x12180.
